Hi 'm a Uni student and i'm doing a research project on Responsive Web Design and the question i'm asking is

"Responsive Web Design: a stop gap technique or the future of building web sites? "

I intend on researching whether RWD will becoming an "industry standard" way of design or will it be developed and pave the way for a different method which hasn't been discovered?

I would just like to hear various opinions and beliefs of anyone who's work it influences.

Thanks in advance

system
—
2012-11-23T07:16:53Z —
#2

I think so, As we are observing use of devices other than PC and laptops, it is increasing with a fast rate. These devices like smartphones, PDA's, are providing better interfaces and they are convenient to carry and to use from any place we can expect the same.It is expected that by 2014, mobile internet will overtake desktop internet usage, Various source of study have already shown the average American spends 91 per cent of the time socialising on mobile internet (Smartphone’s and tablets ) in compare to 79 per cent on desktop; already more than 50 per cent of all local searches are done from a mobile device, and hence they are big source of acquiring business.

system
—
2012-11-24T08:29:30Z —
#3

Responsive Web Design is present to build website with features like more flexible and re-adjusts . And in present it counts best way to build a website " It makes a website fit to be used on different platforms like tablets, desktops and mobiles" "No need to make separate websites" . As Web change with new technologies frequently and future may something completely different with techniques of designing web pages . So I think it is present . Thanks

markbrown4
—
2012-11-24T10:08:57Z —
#4

Yes, rwd has been around in forms for a long time before it got it's name.Embracing the flexibility of the canvas and making content accessible to anyone on any browser or device is one of the core concepts of web tech.

PromptSpace
—
2012-11-24T14:20:20Z —
#5

Yes. With more and more prople accessing the web from their cellphones of various screen sizes and tablets. Responsive design is infact the future. You need to make sure the crowd can consume your media on all platforms.

Greg_Baka
—
2012-11-24T14:43:41Z —
#6

It is the future of building websites.

But I'm sure it too will morph a little as time goes by. For instance, desktop displays have nice effects available on mouseover, but small devices do not have mouseover capability. So eventually mouseover will be added to small devices, or it will stop being used on desktops, or someone will invent responsive code that lets mouseover effects be triggered in a new way on small devices. Responsive design will itself respond to necessity.

ralphm
—
2012-11-26T12:35:42Z —
#7

It's an interesting topic. It's easy to get swept along by a fad, only to find that it fizzles out after a while. It is quite possible that RWD is such a fad. I meet people all the time who prefer the see the desktop view on their mobiles, and to zoom in on elements by double tapping. If that becomes more common on mobiles, then it may prove more useful that RWD.

The more useful aspect of this RWD movement is that it has made people question all the useless fluff that is typically crammed onto desktop designs. As wilto famously tweeted:

There's food for thought in that (ahem). The rise of mobile is a godsend for the web, as it is increasingly filling up with junk that has no place on websites.

Lieto
—
2012-11-27T12:57:45Z —
#8

That depends entirely on the website. For example, would you like a responsive book of novels? i wouldnt. Some things are good the way they are.

Sega
—
2012-11-27T13:51:41Z —
#9

I personally think so. From a functioning point of responsive web design might not be the best solution, some argue having multiple versions of your website for various resolutions might be the best solution as you can watch over each bite used and shape the CSS to it's bare minimum.

However, as mobile internet speeds and devices speed up it's no longer been such a huge issue. This being the case it's easier to design one website that works on everything, rather than coding 2/3 versions of your website. The only drawback to responsive web design is that you need to work harder in the beginning, but once it works it works across everything.

Just to highlight the importance of mobile devices, early this month yet another iPad was launched, and Microsoft have also unveiled their mobile tablet, mobile is the new computer!

dojo
—
2012-11-29T08:55:25Z —
#10

I've actually been pretty iffy with this, since I really hate it when new stuff appears just when I was confident on my skills after learning other stuff

Anyway, in the past month I have started coding only responsive designs and they're actually not that hard to do. And it's indeed nice to see them display properly on various display sizes. While I personally don't use a smartphone and my Nook Tablet has enough res to display my pages fully (if held horizontally), I cannot ignore the rest of the world is going 'mobile'. So, why not offer my clients the latest technologies, when it takes me just a little effort to tweak my styling behavior?

kohoutek
—
2012-11-29T10:55:36Z —
#11

The principles behind RWD might accompany us for quite a while. What is "the future" on the web? A few years ago, people said that this time around HTML and CSS would be a thing of the past, CMSes would be replaced by Facebook and similar sites, nobody would use websites anymore for personal use and that commerce would be done through social media channels. We know how these predictions turned out...

This industry is moving fast, yes, but technologies don't. Instead, the technologies and methods of yesterday get improved on and extended. But, in essence, we're still using the same tools we used 10 years ago. They've just progressed to become richer, more complicated, a lot better and a lot worse.

The same goes for RWD. It's a snapshot of where we are and the ideas behind it will continue to be relevant, though probably not in the same way we define it here and now.

But to answer your question, RWD, or rather, the principles of RWD are indeed a standard today. They've been for quite a while but a catchy buzzword was needed to have a larger base accept its validity.

AgentLunar
—
2012-11-30T01:45:08Z —
#12

Thank you all for your feedback, in line with what Ralph.M has pointed out a lot of people I've spoken too prefer the desktop version when using mobile devices and are happy to pinch to zoom, I won't deny RWD is a nice approach but i'm beginning to think the devices we use and their ability to adapt to content on mobile devices coupled with improvement in mobile speeds pointed out by Sega will help decide and may render RWD as less of a necessity.

seanuk
—
2012-12-03T08:58:57Z —
#13

I personally think RWD is 'right now' and it's not just about having a single website for all devices, there are other benefits such as 'mobile first' - a methodology that helps fine tune the functionality of the site, eliminating unnecessary clutter in the user's experience across all devices.

And as for the future, this industry changes far to quickly to be have a definitive right or wrong way of doing something, let alone predict what that might be!